Simona Halep's Forced Injury Withdraws From The 2025 Australian Open

Simona Halep did not participate in the 2025 Australian Open due to injury (Instagram/@simonahalep).

JAKARTA The former world number one from Romania, Simona Halep, has decided to resign from the Australian Open 2025 qualifying round.

Halep, who is currently 33 years old, was forced to postpone the start of the 2025 competition season after feeling pain in his knees and shoulders.

"After a long discussion with my team, we agreed to postpone the start of my season," Halep wrote on his Instagram social media quoted by BBC Sport.

Last week Halep had just received a wildcard from tournament organizers to appear in the event. However, he was injured while playing in the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

Halep was previously sentenced to four years of playing ban for doping cases. The sentence was then reduced to only nine months.

However, the former French champion Open and Wimbledon insisted on saying he was innocent of the two doping offenses he was accused of.

In addition to withdrawing from the season-opening Grand Slam event, Halep is also confirmed to miss next week's Auckland Classic, which is one of the main warm-up events for the Australian Open.

Halep, who is runner-up at the 2018 Australian Open for losing against Caroline Wozniacki, is currently ranked 877th in the world.

He will rest to recover his injury and intends to return to competing at home in Cluj in early February 2025.

The qualification for the 2025 Australian Open will take place from 6-9 January 2025. The competition will start on January 12, 2025.